Massage Bodywork Somatic Therapy
Massage is an instinctive human response; when we bump ourselves, we rub the sore spot and this rubbing soothes and alleviates pain. This increases the blood supply to the affected area, warming and soothing the tightness. It also helps remove the build up of old blood and toxins which can contribute to ‘holding’ patterns within the muscles of the body.
Massage, body therapy, bodywork and somatic therapies are defined as the application of various touch techniques to the soft tissues (muscles, ligaments, tendons, skin fascia) of the body. The practitioner can apply a range of techniques using their hands, forearms, elbows, arms, knees or feet.
Before any massage begins, a thorough client consultation and assessment are needed to ascertain the client’s current health status. Once this is done and the client is assessed as being acceptable for massage, the therapist can then apply a wide variety of movements such as petrissage, effleurage, percussion, kneading, vibration and friction in a flowing and rhythmical way.
It is important for the massage therapist to understand that each client needs to be treated individually; therefore particular techniques need to be selected and applied in a way that suits that particular client.
Definitions of different levels of massage are:
Massage: The application of soft tissue massage techniques to the body, generally to reduce stress and fatigue while improving circulation. There are many variations of massage, accounting for the development of several different techniques.
Body therapy/bodywork or remedial massage: Various forms of touch therapies that may use soft tissue manipulation, movement, and/or repatterning to effect structural changes to the body. This is used to counter many minor physiological disorders, such as:
• poor circulation
• muscle cramps
• sore, stiff or swollen joints
• sprains or strains
• loss of muscle tone
• frozen shoulder
• wry neck (torticollis)
• sciatica
• scoliosis
Somatic: Meaning “of the body”. Many times this term is used to denote a body/mind/spiritual or whole-body approach, as distinguished from a physiology-only or environmental perspective.
THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF TOUCH
Whatever our stage or age in life, we all need a little of the human touch. It’s there from the beginning as we are held in our parents’ arms, showing us with gentle tenderness that we are not alone. Touch is so fundamental to life that it’s vital for infants to receive loving contact regularly so as to develop healthy self-esteem and to build a strong immunity to infection and disease.
The impact of touch deprivation is not simply a matter of reduced sensory pleasures and optimal physical indulgences. Sociological research of American orphanages of the early 1900s noted a 95% to 100% mortality rate for infants with only institutional care and little or no tactile and/or vestibular stimulation (Harlow & Hansen, 1963). Similarly, in recent time there has been widespread media coverage of the developmental issues of the deprived children neglected in communist-regime Romanian orphanages (Settle, Faustine, 1991, p. 64-72).
Many animal studies have clearly shown the damaging physical and emotional effects of tactile deprivation. In controlled studies mice that were handled during their infancy cleaned, cared and nursed for their young far better than those mice that were neglected during their infancy (Denenberg & Whimbey 1963, p. 1192-93).
In research conducted with monkeys by Harry Harlow, many of the monkeys that were separated from their mothers became depressed and violent, and repeated autistic, withdrawn and stimulus-seeking behaviours such as rocking, head banging and sucking (Montague, Op. Cit., p.77-78). Brain function of several of the most severely affected monkeys was subsequently studied, revealing abnormal electrophysiological discharges when compared to the brains of normal monkeys (Goldsmith & Moor-Janowski, 1971, p. 1-20).
James Prescott, Ph.D., neuropsychologist and former head of the Developmental Behavioural Biology Program at the National Institute of Health (in the US), theorised of Harlow’s monkey research that, during the formative periods of their brain growth, the development of the neuronal systems that control affection were damaged. He believed this damage occurred when there was a lack of sensory input from normal touching and rocking by the mother. These monkeys are then less capable of love and pleasure and more inclined towards depression, violence and isolation. Prescott then extended his study of the origins of love and violence, correlating cultural anthropologists’ data on infant physical affection and adult physical violence. The final conclusions showed a 73% correlation in 49 societies between high infant physical attention, including caressing and carrying the infant on the mother’s body, and low crime and violence, including theft, torture, manipulation and slavery (Prescott, 1975, p. 64-65).
A lot of people used to think of massage as a luxury, and only use it when everything just gets too much or for special occasions. But, given the stresses of modern day living, massage therapies have become more recognised as very real and important ingredients in the public’s everyday health and self worth. Massage practitioners have an opportunity to have a direct and positive impact on their clients’ nurturing skills.
In the Indian Veda, it is written that everything in the Universe is being continuously massaged: the leaves and barks of trees are being massaged by the wind; the rocks and pebbles are rubbed by streams and rivers; the animals brushed by the wind and the forest; all of nature is forever being touched by massage.
Despite this evidence, some people may find themselves living in societies where they are isolated, letting themselves go for days, even weeks, without even a caring hug or gentle cuddle, and are left with only minimal opportunities for nurturing touch.
In cultures where the language of touch is a part of everyday life it’s understood that massage is all about sensual healing for the emotions and spirit as well as the body.
Massage is a very beautiful and effective way of developing health and wellbeing and creating a therapeutic effect on the nervous and muscular systems, and on the systemic circulation.
